BEFORE she left Jamaica in 1997, Dr Nicoleen Johnson could not speak a word of Chinese.

When it was Shauna Taylor’s turn to leave for that country in 2005, all she knew were two words. Yet buoyed, perhaps, by the adventurous spirit, characteristic of youth, they both decided on the far-eastern country as the location for their higher educational pursuits.

The new environment was indeed different from Jamaica, they say, but it wasn’t the one-party government system, the constant surveillance, the interception of emails, or even the squid and octopus in the diet that posed the toughest challenge. It was not even merely learning a language that comprised symbols rather than letters, but studying a prescribed course in it.

“Before I went to China I didn’t even know how to say hello,” recalled Johnson, who now operates her own business – China Business Consulting – in Shanghai and who is president of the Caribbean Association of China. She is the first Jamaican to have completed a doctorate in China.

“Learning the Chinese language and pursuing a degree taught in Chinese is the most difficult hurdle I have had to overcome…The first few years were extremely difficult, but by the grace of God I was able to complete my degree and I went on to complete and defend my PhD thesis in Chinese. I have to give credit to God for his help in overcoming these obstacles,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Johnson was one of only three foreign students in her class at Fudan University, and upon completing a Master’s in International Relations, she was awarded “Most Outstanding International Student”.

For Taylor too, “the most difficult hurdle would be the language”.

The final-year environmental engineering student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University noted that although she has a working knowledge of the Chinese language, there is much more that she needs to learn. One thing to which she is still not accustomed, however, is being the object of curious stares from locals.

“As the city develops, a larger percentage of citizens from the poorer, more rural parts of the country migrate into bigger cities to make a better life for themselves and their families.

The majority of these people have had either very little exposure to foreigners [especially black foreigners] or none at all, and will react with surprise or shock at the first sight of any foreigner,” Taylor said.

The embassy of Jamaica in China reported that there were about 30 Jamaicans – classified by direct birth or that of their parents – currently living in China. To ease their transition and that of other Caribbean nationals into Chinese culture, Johnson, Taylor and nine others formed the Caribbean Association China (CAC) last year. “We have now grown to nearly 40 active members, and the numbers are growing as we are seeing an increase in the number of Caribbean nationals living in China,” Johnson said.

The mission of the CAC is to foster a stronger understanding and appreciation of the Caribbean culture in China, strengthen Sino-Caribbean relations and serve as a support network for the Caribbean community in China.

Assistant vice-president of strategy at HSBC in Shanghai, Earl Carr Jr, belongs to the category of those who are Jamaican, based on parentage rather than birth. His challenges have been of a different ilk.

“Being half-Jamaican and half- Chinese has manifested both advantages and challenges,” he told the Sunday Observer. “I remember vividly as a child growing up in New York City how other kids made fun of me. They would tease me and say things like “hey mon, want some pork fried rice?” Several years later, when I went to China for the first time, as I stepped off the plane a local Chinese turned to me and said in Mandarin, ‘you look Chinese but your hair has problems’. Apparently he had never seen a Chinese with curly hair before.”

Carr’s mother is Panamanian Chinese and his father, Dr Earl Carr Sr, a former ambassador to China and Japan, is Jamaican.

“In many ways, there were times when I did not feel accepted by either society (US/Jamaica or China) because of how I looked. At the same time, it was a source of strength as my father told me regardless of what people may say to you, ‘Earl, you have the best of both worlds’.”

It is not clear when, or even if, any of the three will leave China and return home.

“At times I tell people that I believe China chose me based on the blessings and circumstances that surrounded my being able to achieve this scholarship,” said Taylor. “I sometimes find it hard to accept that my programme here will soon come to an end as Shanghai has truly captured a part of me,” she added.

And from the look of things, Dr Johnson’s mother, Martha Murray, may just move in with her.

“This year my mom visited again and spent three months with me. She absolutely loved Shanghai and now tells me she wouldn’t mind living here with me. I think it’s all those aroma massages and shopping sprees that she is missing,” she joked.

This is the second instalment of a three-part series examining the challenges some Jamaicans face when they go overseas to work.